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Korean Crisis Is Different This Time

The current crisis over North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons has unmistakable parallels with the events of spring 1994. Then, as now, North Korea was plunging ahead to make bomb-grade plutonium at its nuclear complex in Yongbyon.

Then as now, the United States was rallying international support for sanctions against the North. Tensions spiked as North Korea warned it would consider any sanctions an "act of war."

There is, however, one key difference. In 1994, the United States was prepared to attack the North Korean nuclear complex, says Kim Young-sam, who was South Korea's president at the time. That prospect prompted South Korea to reject any moves against the North....
Read entire article at NYT